Special Olympics glory for Project Search graduates

August 18th, 2017

Two local lads who are students on Bradford’s Project Search
have achieved a triple medal success at the Special Olympics.

Neil Hartley, 19, from Eccleshill and Aidan Knights, 20, from
Keighley are celebrating after winning a silver and two bronze medals at the
UK’s largest multi-sports event for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

They are both part of the Project Search scheme, based at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation
Trust, to help Bradford students with learning disabilities find employment
through work experience placements and classroom teaching.

Neil won a bronze medal as part of
the Yorkshire and Humberside basketball team, and already has his sights set on
the next Special Olympics.

He started playing basketball in 2011
when he was a pupil at Southfield Grange School and was thrilled when he was
offered the chance to take part in the 2017 Olympics in Sheffield, which took
place earlier this month.

“I really enjoyed it, there were over
10,000 people at the opening ceremony and the atmosphere was amazing,” said
Neil.

Third Olympic medal

Aidan, who first got into athletics
when he was only nine, was overwhelmed to win silver in the 100m and bronze in
the relay – especially as it was his third Olympic medal, having won gold in
the 100m four years ago.

He said: “The best bit was having so
many people cheering me on; that was fantastic.”

Both Aidan and Neil graduated from
their internships with Project Search in July; having completed work experience placements, in a variety of
roles and settings. They are now concentrating on finding paid employment.

Neil hopes to work
outdoors as a groundsman, as he’s interested in the environment and also loves
drystone walling. Aidan would like a job in catering or retail, and he is
already learning his trade working part-time at the M&S store in Bradford
Royal Infirmary.

The Foundation
Trust’s head of equality and diversity, Lorraine Cameron, said: “I’m thrilled
that we’ve got some Olympic stars at Project Search; Aidan and Neil have done
brilliantly and we’re all so proud of them. They’ve achieved so much, both in
sport and as interns, and have loads to offer potential employers.”

Project Search is a partnership, run
jointly by Southfield School, Hft - a national charity which supports adults
with learning, the University of Bradford and Bradford Council. The aim of
the project is to support young adults with learning disabilities to move
towards paid employment.

This is the
fourth year of this very successful programme which equips interns with
the skills to compete for jobs. The employment rate for people with
learning difficulties generally is less than 6%, but for those who have
completed Project Search it is 67%.

Bradford
Teaching Hospitals has received national recognition for the work it has
done, being highly commended by the Employers Network for Equality &
Inclusion (ENEI), as well as Project Search being highlighted as an ‘area
of outstanding practice’ in Bradford Teaching Hospitals as part of its CQC
inspection.